C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
John Bale (1495–1563)
Bale, John. An English theologian and dramatist; born at Cove, Suffolk, Nov. 21, 1495; died at Canterbury, probably 1563. Originally a Catholic, he became Protestant bishop of Ossory, Ireland (1552). Besides numerous controversial works, he wrote in Latin a ‘Catalogue of the Illustrious Writers of Great Britain’ (1548–59), the first history of English literature, and a number of interludes and moralities (i.e., religious plays) in the interest of Protestantism, the most important of these being the historical drama ‘King John.’ His autograph note-book of materials was published in 1902 under the title: ‘Index Britanniæ Scriptorum,’ etc.